There are perks to being right about important topics, and we got to experience one of those perks yesterday watching President Obama's 'victory lap' speech in the White House Rose Garden, lauding the success of the first four years of the ACA. The President not only praised those who have supported the ACA so far, but also echoed what we and others have said recently: That it's time for Republicans to get over the fact they lost this one.
To our surprise, some conservative pundits like Ramesh Ponnuru finally seem to be taking the President's suggestion to heart that they lost the war over Obamacare, and now they need to move on.
But a lot of our colleagues in the media seem to be having some difficulty with that. The three major cable news channels all seem like clowns, each stuck doing their own schtick - the missing airplane story on CNN, Chris Christie-palooza on MSNBC, and whatever the latest right-wing, anti-Obama hate messaging is on Fox.
We can't help but look at this situation and be reminded of one of our staff favorite fictional political characters, President Jed Bartlet, as he'd reach a conclusion or solve some problem. As soon as the problem was solved, Bartlet seemed to ask, "What's next?"
For Democrats, the answer should be simple right now: Get back to work - and be proud of what you've done.
Logic will tell you that Democrats really shouldn't have such a difficult time running for office this fall. From Republicans like Florida's Governor Rick Scott, who is fundraising with the founder of a series of abusive teen boot camps, to Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker, a politically owned tool of the Koch Brothers, it's not as though the modern Republican Party has any honest or serious leadership.
If that fact wasn't obvious before, the ridiculous budget proposal from Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, that was revealed yesterday, should have reminded Americans how unserious Republicans are today. One member of our staff literally thought Ryan's latest revamped plan was a joke, since yesterday was April Fools Day.
As Greg Sargent noted on Tuesday, Republicans only have one plan to run on this fall - namely, that they think Obamacare sucks. As the facts continue to show, however, a growing number of Americans don't agree with them. A majority of Americans support the ACA now - which is why Democrats must run on the success of the program, even as they try take care of Obamacare's loose ends.
In places like Kentucky, that means that candidates like Alison Lundergan Grimes - who is challenging Senator Mitch McConnell for his seat - can't do what Alex Sink did in Florida. Sink lost, in part, because she didn't loudly, proudly, and effectively stand up for what she supported. For Democrats, that means supporting the Affordable Care Act - not avoiding the topic as Grimes seems to be doing.
From Froma Harrup to Bob Shrum, the smart Democratic pundits and campaign advisors are all saying the same thing to Democrats this year: Embrace Obamacare!
It remains to be seen, however, whether candidates will listen to wise council, or to the clowns on cable "news."
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
No Foolin' - Fight's Over.
Today may be April Fools' Day, but we're certainly not kidding around about our focus today.
For more than seven years now, members of the media have been referring to "Obamacare." And it has now been four years since the 'Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act' - the real name of the law - went into effect.
There have been more column inches in print, more pixels online, more political cartoons drawn, and in general more discussion about this topic than almost any topic that our staff or any journalist we know has ever covered. We personally know more than one health policy journalist who is as sick of this topic as the rest of America is - and this is the topic they're experts on.
Still, when we saw Paul Waldman's piece Monday afternoon at Greg Sargent's Plum Line, we almost had to jump for joy. The title of his piece says it all: "Obamacare fails to collapse. Time to move on, folks." Frankly, we couldn't agree more.
We're fairly sure, however, that many media and political figures on the right feel differently. Much like Election Night 2012, what they're likely feeling is likely a mixture of shock, anger, and denial, along with a feeling of being duped by their own propaganda. Like devoted sports fans who've just watched their favorite sports team get destroyed in the last game of the season, right-wing politicos are still sitting, dazed, hours after the Obamacare enrollment deadline passed, wondering how they could have been so wrong.
Indeed, just as the open enrollment period ended last night, the AP confirmed: The number of Americans signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act has now reached the Obama Administration's optimistic goal of 7 million. Some people have even signed up directly with insurers. It all adds up to 9.5 million Americans who have health insurance now, who were uninsured six months ago.
For those on the political right, the news only gets worse from there.
Not only has the public's support of Obamacare gone into positive territory in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll - it also hit a new high in the latest poll from Fox, which they quickly buried. Democrats and those on the political left are finally beginning to rally behind the law as well.
For any American who actually cares about fixing our broken health care payment system - which, after all, has always been the point of health insurance reform - the fact that Obamacare seems to be building steam and getting positive results is something to cheer about. That said, as many journalists have noted multiple times (though we personally credit Greg Sargent for saying it first and most often over the last few years), the true test for the law will be if it really works over time.
For now, we firmly agree with Paul Waldman: The time for Obamacare to be a headline issue is done.
We fully expect that some on the right will still cling to the crazy idea of repealing the law throughout the 2014 political season, and maybe even longer. Like a sports fan stuck in disbelief and denial though, still staring at a now-empty television set hours after the big loss, dreaming the outcome had been different, Republicans are going to have a hard time dealing with reality.
The fact is, the fight's over. The political right lost. Badly.
It's time for all of America to move on.
For more than seven years now, members of the media have been referring to "Obamacare." And it has now been four years since the 'Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act' - the real name of the law - went into effect.
There have been more column inches in print, more pixels online, more political cartoons drawn, and in general more discussion about this topic than almost any topic that our staff or any journalist we know has ever covered. We personally know more than one health policy journalist who is as sick of this topic as the rest of America is - and this is the topic they're experts on.
Still, when we saw Paul Waldman's piece Monday afternoon at Greg Sargent's Plum Line, we almost had to jump for joy. The title of his piece says it all: "Obamacare fails to collapse. Time to move on, folks." Frankly, we couldn't agree more.
We're fairly sure, however, that many media and political figures on the right feel differently. Much like Election Night 2012, what they're likely feeling is likely a mixture of shock, anger, and denial, along with a feeling of being duped by their own propaganda. Like devoted sports fans who've just watched their favorite sports team get destroyed in the last game of the season, right-wing politicos are still sitting, dazed, hours after the Obamacare enrollment deadline passed, wondering how they could have been so wrong.
Indeed, just as the open enrollment period ended last night, the AP confirmed: The number of Americans signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act has now reached the Obama Administration's optimistic goal of 7 million. Some people have even signed up directly with insurers. It all adds up to 9.5 million Americans who have health insurance now, who were uninsured six months ago.
For those on the political right, the news only gets worse from there.
Not only has the public's support of Obamacare gone into positive territory in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll - it also hit a new high in the latest poll from Fox, which they quickly buried. Democrats and those on the political left are finally beginning to rally behind the law as well.
For any American who actually cares about fixing our broken health care payment system - which, after all, has always been the point of health insurance reform - the fact that Obamacare seems to be building steam and getting positive results is something to cheer about. That said, as many journalists have noted multiple times (though we personally credit Greg Sargent for saying it first and most often over the last few years), the true test for the law will be if it really works over time.
For now, we firmly agree with Paul Waldman: The time for Obamacare to be a headline issue is done.
We fully expect that some on the right will still cling to the crazy idea of repealing the law throughout the 2014 political season, and maybe even longer. Like a sports fan stuck in disbelief and denial though, still staring at a now-empty television set hours after the big loss, dreaming the outcome had been different, Republicans are going to have a hard time dealing with reality.
The fact is, the fight's over. The political right lost. Badly.
It's time for all of America to move on.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Americans Striking Out On Real Priorities
Regardless of how Mother Nature chooses to act today, the priorities of millions of Americans will be focused on the Opening Day of Major League Baseball, rather than whatever they're supposed to be doing at work. That simple fact only serves to drive home the point - priorities matter.
That truism was incredibly obvious over the last few days in states from Washington, to Nebraska, to New York.
In Nebraska, as we'd warned back in January, the priorities of the Republican Governor became blisteringly apparent over the weekend. Nebraska's Gov. Dave Heineman took out his veto pen over the weekend and gutted funding for job training and development in order to get a shiny new plane for the governor's office as well as tax cuts for the state's wealthiest landowners.
Unfortunately, the Democratic Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, wasn't really much better than his GOP counterpart in Nebraska. Cuomo and New York's state legislature did approve a state budget on Saturday that would provide $300 million for prekindergarten in New York City - a laudable accomplishment. However, Cuomo and his state legislature also approved tax rebates and tax cuts for some of the wealthiest people in New York state, while allowing most of New York state's highly corrupt campaign financing laws to continue.
Meanwhile, in Washington state, the death toll continued to rise, as volunteers and authorities continued to dig for the bodies of friends and loved ones buried by the massive mudslide last week. Even as more bodies have been unearthed, so have details proving the priorities of 'Evergreen State' officials have been more about greenbacks than green thumbs. Warnings about building and logging in the valley where the mudslide occurred go back decades. Yet, unsurprisingly, both developers and loggers were allowed to work and build in areas that scientific studies said they should have left alone - resulting in yet another completely preventable tragedy for dozens of families.
Don't even get us started about how unprepared L.A. is for another major earthquake - or how GM could have prevented a whole series of deaths years ago, but thanks to the corporate culture in America, hid their deadly defect instead.
That politics in America is broken should surprise no one. That Americans seem so ready to let our collective priorities slide so easily as we slip into a hereditary oligarchy, however, surprises even us. If you don't believe it, just check the horse race predictions for 2016. Rich Republicans are once again pushing to have Jeb Bush run for President in 2016, while Democrats are counting on Hillary Clinton to run - and win. The backup candidates for each major party aren't much better, as they include the son of longtime libertarian hero Ron Paul, and Andrew Cuomo, who we already mentioned.
From New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's gratuitous groveling before billionaire Sheldon Adelson, to the billionaire Koch Brothers pushing a wave of restrictive voting laws because Republicans today can't win fairly run elections with their extremist rhetoric, the new billionaire political bosses are trying to buy Democracy outright, and kill it.
Sadly, the stomach-turning reality too few have the courage to admit is that millions of Americans seem willing to let the top one-hundredth percent of the wealthiest buy their government out from under them - just as long as that 99.99% aren't prevented from watching their favorite sports or fantasy entertainment.
We understand and even laud the need to get away from the realities of life for a mental health day every once in a while - and opening day is a better time than many to play hooky in the collective opinion of our staff. Too many Americans aren't just playing hooky, though - they've almost permanently abdicated their responsibilities as citizen legislators.
As all the examples we focused on today clearly display: Americans need to get their priorities in order. The future of the country, and indeed the world, depends on it.
That truism was incredibly obvious over the last few days in states from Washington, to Nebraska, to New York.
In Nebraska, as we'd warned back in January, the priorities of the Republican Governor became blisteringly apparent over the weekend. Nebraska's Gov. Dave Heineman took out his veto pen over the weekend and gutted funding for job training and development in order to get a shiny new plane for the governor's office as well as tax cuts for the state's wealthiest landowners.
Unfortunately, the Democratic Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, wasn't really much better than his GOP counterpart in Nebraska. Cuomo and New York's state legislature did approve a state budget on Saturday that would provide $300 million for prekindergarten in New York City - a laudable accomplishment. However, Cuomo and his state legislature also approved tax rebates and tax cuts for some of the wealthiest people in New York state, while allowing most of New York state's highly corrupt campaign financing laws to continue.
Meanwhile, in Washington state, the death toll continued to rise, as volunteers and authorities continued to dig for the bodies of friends and loved ones buried by the massive mudslide last week. Even as more bodies have been unearthed, so have details proving the priorities of 'Evergreen State' officials have been more about greenbacks than green thumbs. Warnings about building and logging in the valley where the mudslide occurred go back decades. Yet, unsurprisingly, both developers and loggers were allowed to work and build in areas that scientific studies said they should have left alone - resulting in yet another completely preventable tragedy for dozens of families.
Don't even get us started about how unprepared L.A. is for another major earthquake - or how GM could have prevented a whole series of deaths years ago, but thanks to the corporate culture in America, hid their deadly defect instead.
That politics in America is broken should surprise no one. That Americans seem so ready to let our collective priorities slide so easily as we slip into a hereditary oligarchy, however, surprises even us. If you don't believe it, just check the horse race predictions for 2016. Rich Republicans are once again pushing to have Jeb Bush run for President in 2016, while Democrats are counting on Hillary Clinton to run - and win. The backup candidates for each major party aren't much better, as they include the son of longtime libertarian hero Ron Paul, and Andrew Cuomo, who we already mentioned.
From New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's gratuitous groveling before billionaire Sheldon Adelson, to the billionaire Koch Brothers pushing a wave of restrictive voting laws because Republicans today can't win fairly run elections with their extremist rhetoric, the new billionaire political bosses are trying to buy Democracy outright, and kill it.
Sadly, the stomach-turning reality too few have the courage to admit is that millions of Americans seem willing to let the top one-hundredth percent of the wealthiest buy their government out from under them - just as long as that 99.99% aren't prevented from watching their favorite sports or fantasy entertainment.
We understand and even laud the need to get away from the realities of life for a mental health day every once in a while - and opening day is a better time than many to play hooky in the collective opinion of our staff. Too many Americans aren't just playing hooky, though - they've almost permanently abdicated their responsibilities as citizen legislators.
As all the examples we focused on today clearly display: Americans need to get their priorities in order. The future of the country, and indeed the world, depends on it.
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